Frequency of HCV seropositivity in patients with pruritus

Abstract

Objective To determine frequency of HCV seropositivity in patients with pruritus.   Methods This study was conducted in Dermatology department, Bolan Medical College/ Sandeman Hospital Quetta. Approval was taken from the institutional ethical review board. The duration of study was six months. A total of 135 patients with pruritus were included in this study. All cases of pruritus having 18 to 60 years of age of either gender were included. Pruritus was diagnosed on the basis of history and physical examination. All patients were screened for the presence of serological evidence of HCV using the 3rd generation ELISA kit for detection of antibodies to human HCV. On the same day a 5ml blood sample was drawn for LFTs. Finally, outcome variable, i.e. frequency of HCV was noted. All the data was entered and analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. Descriptive statistics was used to calculate mean and standard deviation for quantitative variables like age and duration of pruritus. Frequencies with percentages were presented for qualitative variables like gender, abnormal LFTs, family history of HCV positivity, educational status, and outcome was noted. Effect modifiers were controlled through stratification by age, gender, duration of pruritus, family history of HCV seropositivity, educational status and abnormal LFTs to see the effect of these on outcome variables by applying chi-square test taking p-value <0.05 as significant.   Results A total of 135 patients with pruritus were included in this study. Mean age of the patients was 35.84±10.74 years. There were 79 (58.5%) males and 56 (41.5%) females. Family history of HCV positivity was found in 84 (62.2%) patients. There were 57 (42.2%) patients with abnormal LFTs. Frequency of hepatitis C was found in 31 (23%) patients.   Conclusion In this study, frequency of hepatitis C was found in 23% of the patients with pruritus.